Not every Knight came from a wealthy noble family. Although many nobles still had their Knight inheritance, most of them only had a set of armor and weapons passed down from their family. There was nothing else valuable.
Just like Earl Bennett back in the day. If Earl Bennett was captured on the battlefield, he wouldn't have enough money to pay a ransom.
Most nobles were the same. Therefore, these Knights would join their own Duchy's Knight Legion to find a chance to change.
Knights who joined their Duchy usually had two goals. One was to increase their own strength. These knight families lacked inheritance, or their inheritance was not perfect. Therefore, they wanted to join their Duchy's Knight Legion to increase their strength.
The other was that their family was rich. They had a good inheritance and enough family background. They joined the Knight Legion for power. Whether it was military exploits or their own position in the Knight Legion, these were all their goals.
The 5 Duchies couldn't redeem all of their Knights, so these 10,000 Knights were thrown into the Duchy of Carmel.
How to deal with these Knights became a big problem. It would be a waste to just kill them, but they couldn't let these Knights go to the Duchy of Carmel.
After these captives were locked up in the captive camp in Bakong City for a month, desperation began to spread in the camp. The 10,000 Knights were desperately waiting to be redeemed, until they saw the Knights with powerful family backgrounds leaving the camp.
A month later, no more captive knights were ransomed and left the captive camp.
A feeling of being betrayed by their own duchies rose in their hearts. They were fighting for their own duchies, but their own duchies just abandoned them like this, not caring about their lives.
Among the 10,000 Knights, most of the knights were middle to low-level knights. There weren't many high-level knights and knight commanders. Most of them had already been redeemed.
This was because a family that could nurture a knight at the level of a high level knight and a knight commander would definitely be wealthy.
This morning, all the 10,000 captive knights were gathered in the square. Their faces had turned pale due to hunger, and they no longer had the demeanor of knights with strong bodies.
The captain of the Grand Knight Of The Bodley was in charge of guarding these Knights. His family members had left Neking City early, so they weren't hurt.
However, Neking City was plundered, and his family suffered heavy losses. His family members were in a hurry when they left, so they couldn't bring much with them. Since Neking City was rebelling, Abel didn't send anyone to Neking City at all.
The war between the Duchy of Carmel and the five Duchies had ended, and the Duchy of Carmel had emerged victorious. However, they hadn't reclaimed Neking City. This meant that Neking City now belonged to the Duchy of Thunder in name only.
For this reason, Abel had stopped sending food to Neking City a month ago. This meant that the Grand Knight Of The Bodley's family wouldn't be able to return to their territory for the time being.
The Grand Knight Of The Bodley was furious. He knew that Abel would give him an explanation, but he wasn't in a good mood toward the 10,000 Knights who had caused his family to lose their territory.
Due to the Knight Code, he couldn't mistreat these Knights. However, he could manage them even more strictly. Every day, these Knights could only eat the minimum amount of food needed to maintain their physical strength. This was within the scope of his authority.
Furthermore, as long as the captive Knight committed a crime and disobeyed his orders, he would never show any mercy. This made over ten thousand Knight captives very fearful of him.
Coupled with the suppression of their own strength, although the more than 10,000 Knight's emotions became more and more desperate, they did not show any excessive behavior.
These Knights were waiting for the Duchy of Carmel, waiting for Abel's decision, a decision about their fate.
Knight captives who were unable to pay the ransom were usually sold off as slaves, crippled of their Combat Qi, and thrown into the mines, never to see the light of day for the rest of their lives. Alternatively, they were directly killed.
Of course, if the captive Knight had a clean background, a small number of them would be recruited. However, such opportunities were rare, and the main reason was loyalty.
Knight inheritance in each duchy was passed down in the noble knight family. Even if a Knight was recruited, they would betray their family due to family reasons.
As the 10,000 Knight were in a state of panic, Abel's figure appeared in a white light on the wooden platform in front of the captive camp.
"An intermediate wizard!" Some of the Knight among the 10,000 Knight had already recognized what that white light was. It was the light of the "instantaneous movement." Many Knight gasped.
A powerful intermediate wizard. How old was Abel, and yet he was already an intermediate wizard. The Knight on the spot was terrified.
Although wizards could not participate in the secular world, this was a rule of the Wizard Union. It was a rule that all wizards had to follow.
However, this rule was useless in front of a Grandmaster Blacksmith like Abel. A Grandmaster Blacksmith's status was much more honorable than a beginner or intermediate wizard.
Just like how the nobles would refer to Abel as Guru Abel instead of Wizard Abel, they all agreed that Abel's main occupation was to be a Grandmaster Blacksmith.
Therefore, even the Wizard Union did not see Abel as a pure wizard. Instead, they saw him as a Blacksmith Wizard.
This was why Abel was able to become a duke and a king of a duchy as a wizard. On one hand, it was because of his high military exploits, and on the other hand, it was because of his status as a Grandmaster Blacksmith.
To a normal Knight, an intermediate wizard was the most powerful person in the secular world. They had never seen an advanced wizard, so most Knights had only seen an intermediate wizard in their life.
At first, these ten thousand Knight prisoners were defeated by the Duchy of Carmel's equipment. However, the identity of an intermediate wizard made them fear the Duchy of Carmel.
The Knight didn't know how long an intermediate wizard could live, but most of the Knight knew one thing for sure. Some of the intermediate wizards had already appeared in the duchy during their grandfather's generation, but when it came to them, the intermediate wizards had not changed much.
Mysterious king, powerful king, almost immortal king. These words rose in the hearts of the ten thousand Knight prisoners. Their eyes were fixed on Abel, the powerful king who would decide their fate.
"Knights, I'm sorry to tell you that your duchy has abandoned you!" Abel gazed at the ten thousand Knight prisoners and said loudly.
As soon as his voice faded, the ten thousand captive knights exploded with a boom.
Although they were mentally prepared and could guess from the recent situation, they still couldn't accept it when they heard it with their own ears.
The war was initiated by their dukedom. They could not accept the fact that this kind of state-level war ended with the abandonment of their knights.
"Silence!" Abel lowered his voice, and energy began to rise from his body. He was a double element head commander, an intermediate wizard, and a little bit of dragon energy that he let out unintentionally. He had suppressed all of the captives in the camp.
The ten thousand Knight prisoners felt their hearts sink at the same time. At that moment, they couldn't even think or breathe.
Originally, the 10 or so Knight Commanders among the 10,000 or so Knights were all powerful Knights, and their bodies were countless times stronger than normal Knights. Therefore, they shouldn't have been suppressed so easily. However, after being captured and held captive for many days, they didn't have enough food, and they were defenseless.
Even though Abel's energy had been distributed among the ten thousand Knight prisoners, he still managed to subdue the ten Knight captains.
As Abel withdrew his energy, the ten thousand Knight prisoners began to breathe heavily in the camp. All the Knight's eyes were focused on Abel again. The power of Abel had far exceeded their expectations.
"Originally, the way I dealt with the enemies who invaded the Duchy of Carmel was to throw you into the mine and spend the rest of your life compensating for what you did to the Duchy of Carmel!" When Abel said this, the ten thousand Knight prisoners couldn't help but feel their hearts skip a beat. This was the worst possible outcome, but they seemed to have heard the change in Abel's tone.
"However, the Duchy of Carmel understands that you were bewitched by your duchy. It was not your intention to come to the Duchy of Carmel, so I'll give you two choices. One is to abolish your combat qi and send you into the mine of the Duchy of Carmel to work for twenty years. After twenty years, you can regain your freedom!" Abel said in a deep voice.
None of the ten thousand Knight prisoners were idiots. Since they could cultivate to become official Knights, each of them was far more intelligent than ordinary people.
Twenty years of work? If they were to abolish their combat qi and enter the mine, they would be lucky if they could even live for five years, let alone twenty years. What was more, even if they could come out of the mine alive after twenty years of work, their lives would be ruined. What was the point of coming out alive?
The ten thousand Knight prisoners remained silent. They were all waiting for Abel to say the second choice.
"The second choice is to become a Knight of the Duchy of Carmel. Of course, you have to write a letter to your family. They have to move to the Duchy of Carmel. Of course, your family's title will also be recognized in the Duchy of Carmel!" Abel said in a deep voice.
The two choices made many Knight prisoners' eyes light up. Normally, a small family would only have one Knight. If they couldn't go back, their family would be swallowed up by another noble family.
"Your Majesty, King Abel. My family needs the permission of the Duchy of Tex to leave. I'm afraid the Duchy of Tex will not allow my family to move!" A Knight captain stepped out and bowed.
To be honest, the ten or so Knight captains that were allowed to stay here were all Knight captains that weren't valued in their respective Duchies. Their families were very weak, but even so, the Duchy would not allow a Knight captain's family to move.
Knight captains were also a kind of resource. As long as a Knight captain's family was controlled, the Knight captain would not be able to leave the Duchy.
Even if a Knight captain was captured, he would not be able to serve another Duchy. Otherwise, his family would be wiped out.
"The Duchy of Carmel wants your family to move. Which Duchy dares to stop me? The Duchy of Tex? "Abel asked with a big laugh.
The Knight captain just realized that the Duchy of Tex's power had fallen to the bottom. Although the war was over, the real settlement was not yet over. With the strength of the Duchy of Carmel, if Abel's request was not met, then the Duchy of Tex would be destroyed.
"Your Majesty, King Abel. I, Knight Jeremy, am willing to be your sword. Your enemy will be my enemy. Your wish will be my command. I will always be under your throne. Please accept my loyalty!" Knight captain Jeremy knelt on one knee and loudly swore.
Abel was very satisfied with the performance of Knight captain Jeremy. This kind of public declaration had a great impact on the other Knights.
Abel's figure disappeared in a flash of white light and reappeared in front of Knight captain Jeremy. He pulled out his sword and tapped Knight captain Jeremy's shoulder and head 3 times. Abel then said in a deep voice, "I accept the loyalty of Knight captain Jeremy!"
After Knight captain Jeremy pledged his loyalty, most of the knights in the captive camp chose to pledge their loyalty. Especially the 10 knight captains. They all pledged their loyalty to Abel just like knight captain Jeremy.
The knights who did not pledge their loyalty on the spot did not refuse, but their situation was a bit special. For example, there were 2 Knights in their family, or it was too difficult for their family to move.
When Abel left the captive camp, there were less than 3000 Knight captives in the entire camp.
Knight's loyalty was a solemn thing. No knight would use a fake knight's oath to deceive others. The oath of loyalty was the most important part of the profession.
Since these knights were abandoned by their original duchies, they were now free. Their original oaths could no longer bind them, and the new oaths restored their status from captives to knights.
Of course, these Knights could only enjoy the life of a Knight. If they really wanted to enjoy the cultivation of a Knight in the Duchy of Carmel, they would have to wait until their family was moved to the Duchy of Carmel.
Moving a family was a huge project, but the duchy of Carmel had won the war, so the other five duchies didn't do anything to them.
In other words, the 5 duchies wanted to move these families to the Duchy of Carmel as soon as possible. After all, these nobles had been asking them to ransom their family's Knight every day.
It was best that the Duchy of Carmel wanted these families. These families no longer had a Knight, so for these duchies, it was just a waste of food.
While these Knight families were moving, the representatives of the 5 duchies had also arrived at the Duchy of Carmel. It was not that they didn't send their representatives, but Abel was busy with the captives, so he did not have the time to talk to them.
"Your Majesty, the Duchy of Carmel suddenly had too many Knights. I'm afraid our duchy will have a hard time accommodating these Knight families!" Earl Brook said with a bow in the palace of the Duchy of Carmel.
Abel rarely appeared in the palace. It was only because a war had just ended that he had to deal with the future of the Duchy of Carmel, so he had to stay in the palace of Bakong City.
Accommodating Knight families was very troublesome. Among these knight families, those with a coat of arms had to at least prepare a piece of land for them. That was the foundation of a Knight's family. Without that, these Knight families would not be able to survive in the Duchy of Carmel.
In addition, those Knight families without a coat of arms had to at least have a decent job, and there had to be enough cities to accommodate them.
Although there were not many Knights in the Duchy of Carmel, the nobles had already taken over the benefits of every city. They could not just let these Knight families take over the benefits of the Duchy of Carmel!
"Earl Brook, I know what you mean. Our Duchy of Carmel is too small!" Abel said with a smile.
"Yes, your Majesty. Our duchy is too small!" Earl Brook said with a bow in excitement.
"Father, you and Earl Brook can negotiate with the 5 duchies. Make them give us enough land. I don't care how the 5 duchies coordinate with each other. I want the Duchy of Carmel to have enough cities to welcome these Knight families!" Abel turned to Earl Bennett and said.
The way Abel addressed Earl Bennett made the ministers of the Duchy of Carmel very speechless. As the king, he should have the most prestigious status in the Duchy of Carmel, but he still addressed Earl Bennett with the same title.
However, his status was too prestigious, and he was too powerful. Therefore, the ministers of the Duchy and the palace steward Burbage, who was supposed to guide him, could not say anything.
"Your Majesty, I will join the negotiation with Earl Brook. We will make those 5 duchies pay a painful price!" Lord Bennett bowed. He was different from Abel, so he wouldn't be rude in the middle of the palace.
Due to his status, Earl Bennett was now an important person in the Duchy of Carmel. Since Family Harry in Harvest City did not have many members, and since Earl Marshall would not participate in politics, most of the power of the royal family was given to him.
The 2 earls of the royal family were given to Earl Marshall and Earl Bennett. In the eyes of others, Family Harry and Family Bennett were one.
Abel did not participate in the negotiation too much. This kind of thing should be handled by more experienced ministers. He would only lose face if he got involved.
A few months had passed. With the arrival of spring, the Duchy of Carmel seemed to have ushered in a new glory. Suddenly, there were tens of thousands of Knights in the Duchy of Carmel, and the families of these Knights had also come to the Duchy of Carmel.
The Duchy of Carmel's territory had also increased. Although it was a negotiation, it was basically the Duchy of Carmel making the conditions, and the 5 duchies were discussing how to distribute the conditions among the 5 duchies.
In the end, the Duchy of Carmel received 3 cities each from the Duchy of Thunder, the Duchy of Lacca, the Duchy of Rohr, and the Duchy of Larvid. The Duchy of Tex, the initiator of this war, gave up 5 cities.
These 15 cities were given to the Duchy of Carmel from the Duchy of Thunder, the Duchy of Lacca, and the Duchy of Rohr. As for how to distribute these cities among the 5 duchies, the Duchy of Carmel did not care. They already got what they wanted.
Because of what happened to Neking City, all the nobles in the 15 cities that the duchy of Carmel took over had been expelled. Most of the cities that the duchy of Carmel took over had no nobles left.
Originally, this decision would cause chaos in these 15 cities due to the lack of management, but since there were a lot of Knight nobles joining them, these cities were quickly filled with management.
The Duchy of Carmel's territory had expanded by a lot. The extra land was enough for the Knight nobles to survive, and the Duchy of Carmel now had a huge Knight army of 10,000 Knights.
The 5 duchies had lost a lot of land. Due to the lack of Knight nobles and wizards, their strength had dropped from the middle to the bottom tier.
The Kingdom of Saint Ellis did not interfere during this time. The Duchy of Carmel's strength had already shocked this ancient kingdom. What the kingdom was most affected by was Abel's true strength.
Abel had already killed 4 elite wizards and 6 elite orc priests. This was enough to make any elite wizards think twice before going against him.
The tragic state of Niyan City made the three empires even more afraid to become enemies with him. As long as they could not figure out how he turned Niyan City into a land of death, they would not directly go to war with him.
It had been 4 months since the end of the war. Abel was finally done dealing with the aftermath of the war. Since the Duchy of Carmel had gained 15 cities and a lot of land, it had become the largest duchy in the Holy Continent.
Other than the 3 kingdoms, no other duchy had more land than the Duchy of Carmel. With the addition of 10,000 Knight nobles, the Duchy of Carmel's power had become second only to the 3 kingdoms.
"Your Majesty, King Kenneth of the Duchy of Keyen has sent a messenger. He is waiting for you outside the palace!" Steward Burbage found Abel reading a book and bowed.
"Why is the Duchy of Keyen looking for me?" Abel put down his book and asked in confusion.
The Duchy of Carmel's intelligence network had always been handled by Steward Burbage, so he knew a lot about what was happening in the other duchies.
"Your Majesty, the Duchy of Keyen can't hold on any longer. I heard they don't even have enough food for spring plowing. The Duchy of Keyen might be the first duchy in the Holy Continent to fall because of a lack of food." Steward Burbage replied with a bow.
"You mean, they want to buy food from me?" Abel asked with a little surprise.
No wonder he was confused. He didn't have a good relationship with the Duchy of Keyen. He had destroyed the wizard circle in the Duchy of Keyen because of their grudge. No matter what, they shouldn't be here.
"Your Majesty, do you want to see the messenger?" Steward Burbage asked again.
"Ok, bring the messenger to the palace. Tell Earl Brook and my father to come!" Abel waved his hand and said.
Afterward, he stood up and stretched his body. He had slowed down his exploration of the Dark World recently, but the results were still good. He had explored more than half of the real Tarasha, and most importantly, his rank 12 wizard core was about to be filled up again.
This was because of the war. His training in the Dark World had been delayed. Otherwise, he would have reached the state much earlier.
Abel walked out of his study room and went to the cloakroom. With the help of a maid, he changed into a set of formal clothes.
Although the Duchy of Keyen was on the decline, he still needed to show some respect. When he walked into the palace, Earl Bennett and Earl Brook were already waiting for him.
He greeted the two of them and walked to the middle seat and sat down.
At the same time, Steward Burbage brought the messenger of the Duchy of Keyen to the palace on time.
"The prestigious Majesty, I am Viscount Breger of the Duchy of Keyen. I am here to see you on behalf of King Kenneth!" The messenger of the Duchy of Keyen, Viscount Breger, bowed to Abel and said with respect.
Abel was caught off guard. Viscount Breger's attitude was not something a messenger of the king should have. This kind of half-body salute was not in line with the norm.
Viscount Breger was here on behalf of King Kenneth of the Duchy of Keyen. In other words, he was here on behalf of King Kenneth.
It wasn't just Abel who was caught off guard. Even Earl Bennett and Earl Brook were caught off guard. No one thought Viscount Breger was a nobleman who didn't know etiquette. Viscount Breger was a messenger. Just the fact that he was a viscount was enough to prove that he had inherited etiquette from his family.
"Viscount Breger, please take a seat!" Abel slightly bowed back and said with a smile.
Since Viscount Breger was treating him with such respect, he had to return the favor with respect.
"Thank you, your Majesty!" Viscount Breger bowed and sat on the chair prepared by Burbage's steward.
"The prestigious Majesty, first of all, let me congratulate you on behalf of King Kenneth for defeating the 5 bandits. Your victory will be remembered by the world. This was a perfect war!" Viscount Breger began to praise the war as soon as he sat down.
Everyone on the scene could understand what he and the Duchy of Keyen were thinking. Out of the 5 duchies, 4 of them had invaded the Duchy of Keyen before. That was why Viscount Breger called them bandits.
"I don't like war, but I'm never afraid of it!" Abel said with a faint smile.
If the duchy of Carmel continued to weaken, no one would know what would be recorded in the history books. Only the powerful ones would be able to keep the records.
"I've been asked by King Kenneth to make a presumptuous request. The Duchy of Keyen would like to join the Duchy of Carmel!" As soon as Viscount Breger finished his sentence, Earl Bennett and Earl Brook couldn't help but take a step forward. Their faces were filled with excitement.
Abel was only a little confused. To be honest, if it weren't for the few families he was related to, he would never take over a duchy. His training speed was already very slow.
Of course, this was only in comparison. Abel's training speed was like flying in the eyes of any wizard in the Holy Continent.
He didn't understand why the Duchy of Keyen would choose to join the Duchy of Carmel and not any other choice.
"The prestigious majesty, the Duchy of Keyen is at the end of its rope. Our people have no food to fill their stomachs, and our duchy has no ability to defend against foreign invasions. King Kenneth has no power to control this duchy. We are surrounded by bandits. The only thing that can keep our people alive is the Duchy of Carmel!" Viscount Breger said with sincerity.
The Duchy of Keyen was basically an empty shell. However, the Duchy of Larvid, the Duchy of Tex, the Duchy of Laka, and the Duchy of Rohr had just suffered a huge blow from the Duchy of Carmel, so their power had been greatly reduced.
However, these 4 duchies were still a little bit more powerful than the Duchy of Keyen. On top of that, these 4 duchies had lost a lot of earth cities. They needed to reduce their losses, so invading the Duchy of Keyen's cities to make up for their losses was their choice.
However, these 4 duchies had lost a lot of power, and they needed some time to recover. Also, since their power had suddenly decreased, they also needed to guard against other duchies from other kingdoms. Therefore, they didn't have the energy to invade the Duchy of Keyen in a short period of time.
"What does King Kenneth want?" Abel lowered his voice. He did not show too much excitement.
The Duchy of Keyen was very big, and it was not connected to the Duchy of Carmel. Once the Duchy of Keyen became part of the Duchy of Carmel, the land between the 2 duchies would have to be opened up.
Of course, it didn't matter if it was the Duchy of Laka or the Duchy of Rohr, opening up a permanent road to the Duchy of Keyen was not a difficult thing.
However, Abel needed to know what the Duchy of Keyen wanted. He didn't think King Kenneth would just give him a duchy directly.
"King Kenneth only has one condition, and that is to guarantee the royal family of the Duchy of Keyen will be treated with the same dignity they deserve in the Duchy of Carmel!" Said Viscount Breger with a bow.
This request was not high. In fact, it was way too low. However, because of this, King Kenneth didn't have the courage to ask for more conditions.
"King Kenneth's title of Duke will not change. His family can permanently designate a city in the Duchy of Keyen as their fief!" Abel lowered his voice after thinking for a moment.
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